


The Wings of a Dragon

by kayleeschuyler (stephaniebithell)



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: (Yes I can have both again), (Yes I can have both), Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Arranged Marriage, Childhood Friends, Dragon Hunter Keith (Voltron), Dragon Lance (Voltron), Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Human Keith (Voltron), M/M, Married for love, Near Death Experiences, Romeo and Juliet References, Slow Burn, fast burn, wedding ceremony
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-25
Updated: 2021-01-25
Packaged: 2021-03-17 18:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28978668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stephaniebithell/pseuds/kayleeschuyler
Summary: Keith is the next in line chief for his Dragon Hunting Tribe and is the most skilled in trapping dragons. Lance is the son of the Dragon Tribe chief and is the heir in training. He is a Storm Elemental Dragon (he can control water, air and sometimes lightning) which makes him a very rare and dangerous dragon. When Keith was a small child, he got lost in a storm and almost died after falling off a cliff, but was saved by a young Lance who had been training with his powers at the time. Both of them knew that the other was their sworn enemy, their tribes had been warring for generations, but they were drawn together and knew they had an unbreakable bond. As they got older, they would meet in secret, Lance would conjure fog and clouds to hide them, and they would talk about what they would do together if they could ever escape their families. The both know that their love is forbidden and if they are ever caught, they will be torn apart or worse.
Relationships: Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 69





	The Wings of a Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> This is my piece for the Ever After Klance Zine. I was so greatful to be chosen to be apart of this beautiful zine and I have to give all the credit to the other creators and the mods for a smooth process and amazing outcome. A big shoutout to my artist partner Dezziena who somehow took my little au and created a masterpiece of the boys at their wedding. They also used my au to a sticker as part of the merchandise that was included in the packages.

Keith’s hands trembled as he closed the buttons on his new vest, the dark purple material contrasting with his pale complexion. The last time he had felt this nervous, was the first time he had been taken out on a dragon hunt with his father and the other hunters. His hand had shook so badly that he couldn’t hold the blade his father had given him without dropping it every few moments. 

He made himself take a few deep breaths as he took a look in the mirror he was standing in front of, the dark breeches were trimmed with the same silver piping that branched over his vest in imitation of a tree branch. The black silk shirt sleeves were cool against his arms, and the boots pinched slightly from lack of use, and yet when he took it all in he could imagine the countless men who had stood before him on their wedding day in their traditional attire.

He had always known that he would one day be standing here in the ceremonial tent. As the Chief's one and only son, he was expected to marry either to cement an alliance or to continue the line of chief’s within the Kogane family. When he had come out as gay to his parent’s back when he was a young teenager, Keith had been worried that, even though their clan was accepting of love in all of it’s forms, his obligations as the heir would have impacted their reaction.

Keith had been worried for nothing, when his mother, Krolia, had smiled and thanked him for letting them know, while his father, Kent, had nodded and admitted he had suspected as much. According to him, Keith had always blushed more than what would be considered normal when the male hunters praised him during a hunt, whereas the female ones had barely received a small smile in return.

Even when he had finally admitted to himself that he loved Lance, after their years of keeping their friendship a secret, he always assumed he would have to give it up for what was best for his clan. After generations of war and fighting between the Dragon Hunters and Dragons, Keith knew for certain that a relationship between Lance and himself would never be accepted. 

They had met when they were only children. Keith had wandered off while his parents were on a hunt, the other adults in the village had taken their eyes off of him for just a moment and that was all he needed. Keith had been bored, while there were other children his age he could play with, most didn’t since they were too in awe of his mother and father. Instead, Keith usually found his own fun in the form of running away and pretending to hunt a dragon, just like his parents did.

It was one fateful day that had turned everything around in Keith’s short, but normal life. It had been a bright and sunny day when he had taken off, the wind just a soft caress on his cheek. As he had neared the cliffs the weather had taken a sharp turn and within moments Keith was enveloped in a thick fog. What had once been clear skies, were now swirling tempests. Keith had been adamant to his parents only that morning that he was old enough to start hunting dragons and that he wasn’t scared of anything, but in that moment he knew that his parents had been right. He wasn’t old enough to handle the magic that the dragons controlled. There must have been a powerful storm dragon nearby to create such a sudden change in the weather and Keith had walked straight into it’s trap.

In his haste to run back to the village, Keith had been turned around in the mist and had felt his heart and stomach drop when his foot landed on nothing but air and he proceeded to plummet off the very same cliffs he had been exploring. It was a well known fact that these cliffs were dangerous, not only for the fact that they were enormous, but also for the fact that at the bottom was a large cluster of razor sharp rocks that would and could skewer a person.

In his terror during the fall, Keith had failed to hear the frantic beating of wings coming closer to him. Just as he had gotten to the point where he could see the rocks through the mist and he had started to accept the fact that he was going to die and never see his family again, a pair of hands had grabbed him under the arms and heaved. The abrupt stop in his freefall had jarred Keith, straining his body where he was being held, but he had just been grateful to not be wearing a spike through his body.

He guessed he must have still been in shock, as the entire time that he had slowly risen through the clouds, now going the opposite direction as to what he had been only a minute earlier, that he had never considered how he had been saved. No human should have been able to reach him, nor catch him in the time it took for him to fall. In fact, there weren't even any humans around when he had fallen, a fact that he had been grateful for earlier. 

So when his feet had touched the ground again, the mystery hands pulling away from his most likely bruised arms, Keith thought nothing of turning around to thank his savior. The fact that a dragon had saved him had never even crossed his mind. The dragon looked young, possibly even his age. He was bending over, as if he was out of breath or something, and had dark blue wings that seemed to blend into the storm clouds still swirling around.

In the time that it had taken Keith to catch up to what he had seen and had realised that a human, a member of a dragon hunters clan, had been rescued from certain death by a dragon, a species they were sworn to kill, the young dragon had finally caught his breath and looked up. Keith had scrambled for a knife or some kind of weapon, the warnings that his parent’s and every other member of his clan had been ringing in his ears. Dragons are death. They will kill you without hesitation. They wield strange magic that defies nature's laws. If you ever come across one, kill it on sight.

It had taken a few poorly attempted hits on Keith’s part and almost half an hour of the dragon attempting to calm him down, before it was established that the dragon, Lance, meant him no harm. While yes it was Lance’s fault for Keith’s near death experience, it wasn’t on purpose. He had been practicing his storm magic nearby and when he had spotted a human getting close to where he was and he had panicked. It turned out that dragon parents had given their children similar warnings about the dragon hunters. Never interact with one. Hide away if you can or if not disarm if possible. Hunters will never stop if they find a nest. They are the final death of a dragon.

Once Keith had stopped trying to kill Lance, both boys sat down and started to talk about their respective families and how different their views of each other were. Lance had kept the mist around them as they spoke so that they weren’t spotted by another hunter or a dragon flying past. They had talked for hours, on every topic they could think of, from how Lance’s powers manifested, he could conjure anything from a light mist to a hurricane to a blizzard as long as it was related to a storm, to Keith’s training as a hunter, and how different their cultures were.

In the end, they had agreed to meet up again and again and again. They would always change their meeting spot and Lance would always cover them in a fog, in fear of being spotted and having their budding friendship torn apart. They had grown up together, training the other, not to harm but to protect. Keith never quite worked out when his feelings towards Lance had changed, but at some point during their teen years, he had fallen in love with the young dragon. Their meetings turned into heated make out sessions after a fumbled confession on Keith’s part and a tearful Lance laughing at how long it had taken Keith to work it out, since he had known for years that they were meant to be together, due to some dragon instinct of finding their mates.

It was when it looked like the two clans would be going to war after a particularly nasty hunt had left a grand dragon dying and a nest smashed, including all the eggs, both Lance and Keith had had enough. They had gone to their respective parents who were also the leaders of their clans, and begged them to end this feud to no avail. 

It was Lance who had come up with the idea that they needed to combine their clans to help them overcome their differences. After much deliberation and discussion, they agreed the best way to get both clans to agree to the merge was to propose a marriage between a hunter and a dragon. Once they had merged both in a union then they would become one clan and would hopefully start to work together instead of against each other. While they both knew it was naive to think it would be a seamless transition, it was possible considering their meeting and subsequent friendship and then relationship.

It had taken months of begging, pleading and eventually the threat of them leaving their respective clans to elope and leaving them both without heirs, to have both their parents agree to an armistice. It was agreed that Keith and Lance would be the wedded pair, not only because they were already in a relationship, but because they were the ones to come up with the idea, as well as the fact that they were the heirs and it was their duty.

It was now the day of their union ceremony and Keith’s father poked his head through the curtain that separated Keith from the growing crowd of hunters waiting for the ceremony to begin. 

“They are here,” he said simply as the beat of a dragon's wings started to become noticeable.

Keith nodded and followed his father out of the tent and along the makeshift aisle that had been built that week. The left hand side of the aisle was filled with seats that were common among his clan, while the right hand side had more bench-like seating that allowed for the dragons arriving to sit without pinching their wings or tails. Once they reached the end of the aisle, the sound of the dragon's wings was so loud it was hard to hear anyone’s voice as they all started to chatter.

Keith chose to ignore all the gossiping that was going on as he tried to spot Lance in the large crowd of dragons that were now in attendance. He could easily recognise Lance’s parent’s, the current leaders of the dragons, along with his nest mates who had all paired off with their respective mates. There were others who hadn’t met before but could recognise from Lance’s stories, Allura and Coran who were the only survivors of their nest after a particularly brutal raid long before the boys had been born, Romelle and Bandor from a nest close by who had lost many members to hunters but were close enough to Lance to listen to the proposal of merging.

As Keith’s gaze moved back towards the leaders of the group, Lance moved out from behind his father's wings and Keith’s heart stopped. The young dragon’s dark blue wings had been painted with the same silver branches that covered Keith’s vest. His backless coat was as white as the pure snow that he was known for creating, the high neck collar opening at the front to reveal a choker necklace with Lance’s family sigil engraved within the sun pendant hanging from it. The undershirt, pants, gloves and boots were all plain white as well and yet it seemed as if he were sparkling under the full moon. Then, Keith realised that it was because Lance was sparkling, his outfit was covered in millions of tiny snowflakes that refused to melt. 

As he stepped forward to take Lance’s hand, that was the moment the elders of the hunter clan left their tent. It was always a tradition for one of the elders to perform the marriage ceremony and Keith’s father was adamant that they continue that here. It had been met with no disagreement as long as the dragon elder who performed all of their bonding ceremonies was allowed to do the same. Lance squeezed Keith’s hand as they grinned at each other, their boyhood fantasy of their clans coming together was finally happening.

The dragons all moved to sit on their benches while the humans in attendance did the same, leaving only the two elders at the head of the aisle and Lance and Keith at the back, ready to start the ceremony. Keith could confidently say that the ceremony seemed to fly past in a blur, only snapshots of moments seeming to stick in his memory. 

It wasn’t until the human elder turned to the crowd and asked, “Who is the one to bless this union and present the blade?” that Keith seemed to fully be aware of what was going on.

Keith’s father stepped forward, holding a beautifully crafted dagger, the hilt covered in the familiar branch pattern. “I, Kent Kogane, Chief of the Hunter Clan, present the familial blade and bless this union.”

The elder nodded as the blade was passed to Keith, who in turn gave it to Lance. “I, Keith Kogane, son of Kent Kogane, present to you my family’s blade, so that you will always be protected and defended by my house. The blood of all Kogane’s past and present are merged with this metal and it will serve you in all your hunts and protect those of whom you love for all time.”

Lance smiled as he held the blade to his chest and then attached it to the small decorative belt around his waist. Keith’s heart decided to give another start at the sight of what was once his father’s ceremonial blade now at Lance’s hip, a sight that no one had ever thought would be possible.

The dragon elder cleared her throat loudly, “Will the guardian’s of this hatchling please step forward?”

Lance’s mother and father both moved forward from where they had been standing at the front of the crowd. In his mother’s hands were a pair of crowns made of the most stunning flowers in blues, reds and purples.

The elder spoke directly to them, “Do you agree to this union between your hatchling and his chosen?” 

“We do,” they replied.

“Please present the crowns.”

Lance’s mother handed one of the crowns to his father and in unison they placed a crown on both Lance and Keith’s heads. It was then that Keith realised that they were not only braided with flowers and leaves, but a multitude of silver ribbons that cascaded down their necks and connected the two crowns together.

As Keith tried to take in all the intricate weaves within the flower crowns the dragon elder continued her speech, “These crowns symbolise the connection between mated pairs. Normally, each dragon would braid their respective chosen’s crown but as this is a pairing that has never before been seen and as we are still learning each others’ ways, Lance has braided each crown in honour of his chosen mate.” 

The dragon elder then lifted her claws to lightly touch the ribbons connecting the crowns together and started to chant. The words, if they could even be called words with the heavy guttural sounds that were being made, were hypnotising. The way that they rose and fell, how they wrapped themselves around his body and soul had Keith entranced in the mysterious beauty that they beheld. Even though he couldn’t understand a single word said, he knew that it was a prayer for their pairing to be a long and prosperous one. The feeling of peace and serenity that enveloped him when he thought about the possibility, now reality of being with Lance out in the open, forever, was one that he would never forget.


End file.
